Bill Text Versions

Current Version - as introduced

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Section 1.

Subd. 3.

Term of license and renewal.

(a) The Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board must issue an initial Tier 1 license for a term of one year. A Tier 1 license may be renewed subject to paragraphs (b) and (c). The board may submit written comments to the district or charter school that requested the renewal regarding the candidate.

(b) The Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board must renew a Tier 1 license if:

(1) the district or charter school requesting the renewal demonstrates that it has posted the teacher position but was unable to hire an acceptable teacher with a Tier 2, 3, or 4 license for the position;

(2) the teacher holding the Tier 1 license took a content examination in accordance with section 122A.185 and submitted the examination results to the teacher's employing district or charter school within one year of the board approving the request for the initial Tier 1 license; and

(3) the teacher holding the Tier 1 license participated in cultural competency training consistent with section 120B.30, subdivision 1, paragraph (q), within one year of the board approving the request for the initial Tier 1 license.

The requirement in clause (2) does not apply to a teacher that teaches a class in a career and technical education or career pathways course of study.

(c) A Tier 1 license must not be renewed more than deleted text beginthree timesdeleted text endnew text begin one timenew text end, unless the requesting district or charter school can show good cause for additional renewals. deleted text beginA Tier 1 license issued to teach (1) a class or course in a career and technical education or career pathway course of study or (2) in a shortage area, as defined in section 122A.06, subdivision 6, may be renewed without limitation.deleted text end

Sec. 2.

Subd. 5.

Limitations on license.

(a) A Tier 1 license is limited to the content matter indicated on the application for the initial Tier 1 license under subdivision 1, clause (2), and limited to the district or charter school that requested the initial Tier 1 license.

deleted text begin(iii) has a master's degree in the specified content areadeleted text endnew text begin (ii) has completed a Minnesota-approved teacher preparation program but does not meet the requirements for a Tier 3 licensenew text end; and

(3) the district or charter school demonstrates that a criminal background check under section 122A.18, subdivision 8, has been completed on the candidate.

(b) A candidate for a Tier 2 license must have a bachelor's degree to teach a class outside a career and technical education or career pathways course of study.

(c) A candidate for a Tier 2 license must have one of the following credentials in a relevant content area to teach a class or course in a career and technical education or career pathways course of study:

(1) an associate's degree;

(2) a professional certification; or

(3) five years of relevant work experience.

Sec. 4.

Subd. 3.

Term of license and renewal.

The Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board must issue an initial Tier 2 license for a term of two years. A Tier 2 license may be renewed deleted text beginthreedeleted text endnew text begintwo new text endtimes. Before a Tier 2 license is renewed for the first time, a teacher holding a Tier 2 license must participate in cultural competency training consistent with section 120B.30, subdivision 1, paragraph (q). The board must issue rules setting forth the conditions for additional renewals after the initial license has been renewed deleted text beginthreedeleted text endnew text begintwo new text endtimes.

Sec. 5.

Subd. 2.

Coursework.

A candidate for a Tier 3 license must meet the coursework requirement by demonstrating one of the following:

(1) completion of a Minnesota-approved teacher preparation program;

(2) completion of a state-approved teacher preparation program that includes field-specific student teaching equivalent to field-specific student teaching in Minnesota-approved teacher preparation programs. The field-specific student teaching requirement does not apply to a candidate that has two years of teaching experience;

(4) a professional teaching license from another state, evidence that the candidate's license is in good standing, and two years of teaching experiencedeleted text begin; ordeleted text endnew text begin.new text end

deleted text begin(5) three years of teaching experience under a Tier 2 license and evidence of summative teacher evaluations that did not result in placing or otherwise keeping the teacher on an improvement process pursuant to section 122A.40, subdivision 8, or section 122A.41, subdivision 5.deleted text end

Sec. 6.

Subd. 4.

Mentorship and evaluation.

A teacher holding a Tier 3 license must participate in deleted text beginthe employing district or charter school'sdeleted text endnew text begina new text endmentorship and evaluation program, including an individual growth and development plan.new text begin A teacher holding a Tier 3 license may satisfy the mentorship requirement by participating in a mentorship program during the teacher's first year in a new district or charter school, including a school year when the teacher held a Tier 1 or Tier 2 license. No teacher holding a Tier 3 license may be required to serve as a mentor to another teacher in order to fulfill this requirement.new text end

deleted text begin(4) the candidate's most recent summative teacher evaluation did not result in placing or otherwise keeping the teacher in an improvement process pursuant to section 122A.40, subdivision 8, or 122A.41, subdivision 5.deleted text end

Sec. 8.

Subd. 3.

Mentorship and evaluation.

A teacher holding a Tier 4 license must participate in deleted text beginthe employing district or charter school'sdeleted text endnew text begina new text endmentorship and evaluation program, including an individual growth and development plan.new text begin A teacher holding a Tier 4 license may satisfy the mentorship requirement by participating in a mentorship program during the teacher's first year in a new district or charter school, including a school year when the teacher held a Tier 1, 2, or 3 license. No teacher holding a Tier 4 license may be required to serve as a mentor to another teacher in order to fulfill this requirement.new text end

Sec. 9.

new text beginSubdivision 1.new text end

new text beginVerification.new text end

No person shall be accounted a qualified teacher until the school district or charter school contracting with the person for teaching services verifies through the Minnesota education licensing system available on the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board website that the person is a qualified teacher, consistent with sections 122A.16 and 122A.44, subdivision 1.

new text beginSubd. 2.new text end

new text beginReporting.new text end

new text beginNo later than October 1 of each school year, the superintendent or charter school must provide the school board with the number of teachers in each school building who hold Tier 1, 2, 3, and 4 licenses. The school board and the Department of Education must publish this data on their respective websites no later than January of each school year.new text end

Sec. 10.

Subd. 8.

(a) To improve student learning and success, a school board and an exclusive representative of the teachers in the district, consistent with paragraph (b), may develop a teacher evaluation and peer review process for probationary and continuing contract teachers through joint agreement. If a school board and the exclusive representative of the teachers do not agree to an annual teacher evaluation and peer review process, then the school board and the exclusive representative of the teachers must implement the state teacher evaluation plan under paragraph (c). The process must include having trained observers serve as peer coaches or having teachers participate in professional learning communities, consistent with paragraph (b).

(b) To develop, improve, and support qualified teachers and effective teaching practices, improve student learning and success, and provide all enrolled students in a district or school with improved and equitable access to more effective and diverse teachers, the annual evaluation process for teachers:

(1) must, for probationary teachers, provide for all evaluations required under subdivision 5;

(2) must establish a three-year professional review cycle for each teacher that includes an individual growth and development plan, a peer review process, and at least one summative evaluation performed by a qualified and trained evaluator such as a school administrator. For the years when a tenured teacher is not evaluated by a qualified and trained evaluator, the teacher must be evaluated by a peer review;

(3) must be based on professional teaching standards established in rule;

(4) must coordinate staff development activities under sections 122A.60 and 122A.61 with this evaluation process and teachers' evaluation outcomes;

(5) may provide time during the school day and school year for peer coaching and teacher collaboration;

(6) may include job-embedded learning opportunities such as professional learning communities;

(7) may include mentoring and induction programs for teachers, including teachers who are members of populations underrepresented among the licensed teachers in the district or school and who reflect the diversity of students under section 120B.35, subdivision 3, paragraph (b), clause (2), who are enrolled in the district or school;

(8) must include an option for teachers to develop and present a portfolio demonstrating evidence of reflection and professional growth, consistent with section 122A.187, subdivision 3, and include teachers' own performance assessment based on student work samples and examples of teachers' work, which may include video among other activities for the summative evaluation;

(9) must use data from valid and reliable assessments aligned to state and local academic standards and must use state and local measures of student growth and literacy that may include value-added models or student learning goals to determine 35 percent of teacher evaluation results;

(10) must use longitudinal data on student engagement and connection, and other student outcome measures explicitly aligned with the elements of curriculum for which teachers are responsible, including academic literacy, oral academic language, and achievement of content areas of English learners;

(11) must require qualified and trained evaluators such as school administrators to perform summative evaluations and ensure school districts and charter schools provide for effective evaluator training specific to teacher development and evaluation;

(12) must give teachers not meeting professional teaching standards under clauses (3) through (11) support to improve through a teacher improvement process that includes established goals and timelines; and

(13) must discipline a teacher for not making adequate progress in the teacher improvement process under clause (12) that may include a last chance warning, termination, discharge, nonrenewal, transfer to a different position, a leave of absence, or other discipline a school administrator determines is appropriate.

Data on individual teachers generated under this subdivision are personnel data under section 13.43. The observation and interview notes of peer coaches may only be disclosed to other school officials with the consent of the teacher being coached.

(c) The department, in consultation with parents who may represent parent organizations and teacher and administrator representatives appointed by their respective organizations, representing the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board, the Minnesota Association of School Administrators, the Minnesota School Boards Association, the Minnesota Elementary and Secondary Principals Associations, Education Minnesota, and representatives of the Minnesota Assessment Group, the Minnesota Business Partnership, the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, and Minnesota postsecondary institutions with research expertise in teacher evaluation, must create and publish a teacher evaluation process that complies with the requirements in paragraph (b) and applies to all teachers under this section and section 122A.41 for whom no agreement exists under paragraph (a) for an annual teacher evaluation and peer review process. The teacher evaluation process created under this subdivision does not create additional due process rights for probationary teachers under subdivision 5.

(d) Consistent with the measures of teacher effectiveness under this subdivision:

(1) for students in kindergarten through grade 4, a school administrator must not place or approve the placement of a student in the classroom of a teacher who new text beginholds a Tier 1 or Tier 2 license, new text endis in the improvement process referenced in paragraph (b), clause (12), or has not had a summative evaluation if, in the prior year, that student was in the classroom of a teacher who received discipline pursuant to paragraph (b), clause (13), unless no other teacher at the school teaches that grade; and

(2) for students in grades 5 through 12, a school administrator must not place or approve the placement of a student in the classroom of a teacher who new text beginholds a Tier 1 or Tier 2 license, new text endis in the improvement process referenced in paragraph (b), clause (12), or has not had a summative evaluation if, in the prior year, that student was in the classroom of a teacher who new text beginheld a Tier 1 or Tier 2 license, new text endreceived discipline pursuant to paragraph (b), clause (13), unless no other teacher at the school teaches that subject area and grade.

All data created and used under this paragraph retains its classification under chapter 13.

Sec. 11.

Subd. 5.

(a) To improve student learning and success, a school board and an exclusive representative of the teachers in the district, consistent with paragraph (b), may develop an annual teacher evaluation and peer review process for probationary and nonprobationary teachers through joint agreement. If a school board and the exclusive representative of the teachers in the district do not agree to an annual teacher evaluation and peer review process, then the school board and the exclusive representative of the teachers must implement the state teacher evaluation plan developed under paragraph (c). The process must include having trained observers serve as peer coaches or having teachers participate in professional learning communities, consistent with paragraph (b).

(b) To develop, improve, and support qualified teachers and effective teaching practices and improve student learning and success, and provide all enrolled students in a district or school with improved and equitable access to more effective and diverse teachers, the annual evaluation process for teachers:

(1) must, for probationary teachers, provide for all evaluations required under subdivision 2;

(2) must establish a three-year professional review cycle for each teacher that includes an individual growth and development plan, a peer review process, and at least one summative evaluation performed by a qualified and trained evaluator such as a school administrator;

(3) must be based on professional teaching standards established in rule;

(4) must coordinate staff development activities under sections 122A.60 and 122A.61 with this evaluation process and teachers' evaluation outcomes;

(5) may provide time during the school day and school year for peer coaching and teacher collaboration;

(6) may include job-embedded learning opportunities such as professional learning communities;

(7) may include mentoring and induction programs for teachers, including teachers who are members of populations underrepresented among the licensed teachers in the district or school and who reflect the diversity of students under section 120B.35, subdivision 3, paragraph (b), clause (2), who are enrolled in the district or school;

(8) must include an option for teachers to develop and present a portfolio demonstrating evidence of reflection and professional growth, consistent with section 122A.187, subdivision 3, and include teachers' own performance assessment based on student work samples and examples of teachers' work, which may include video among other activities for the summative evaluation;

(9) must use data from valid and reliable assessments aligned to state and local academic standards and must use state and local measures of student growth and literacy that may include value-added models or student learning goals to determine 35 percent of teacher evaluation results;

(10) must use longitudinal data on student engagement and connection and other student outcome measures explicitly aligned with the elements of curriculum for which teachers are responsible, including academic literacy, oral academic language, and achievement of English learners;

(11) must require qualified and trained evaluators such as school administrators to perform summative evaluations and ensure school districts and charter schools provide for effective evaluator training specific to teacher development and evaluation;

(12) must give teachers not meeting professional teaching standards under clauses (3) through (11) support to improve through a teacher improvement process that includes established goals and timelines; and

(13) must discipline a teacher for not making adequate progress in the teacher improvement process under clause (12) that may include a last chance warning, termination, discharge, nonrenewal, transfer to a different position, a leave of absence, or other discipline a school administrator determines is appropriate.

Data on individual teachers generated under this subdivision are personnel data under section 13.43. The observation and interview notes of peer coaches may only be disclosed to other school officials with the consent of the teacher being coached.

(c) The department, in consultation with parents who may represent parent organizations and teacher and administrator representatives appointed by their respective organizations, representing the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board, the Minnesota Association of School Administrators, the Minnesota School Boards Association, the Minnesota Elementary and Secondary Principals Associations, Education Minnesota, and representatives of the Minnesota Assessment Group, the Minnesota Business Partnership, the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, and Minnesota postsecondary institutions with research expertise in teacher evaluation, must create and publish a teacher evaluation process that complies with the requirements in paragraph (b) and applies to all teachers under this section and section 122A.40 for whom no agreement exists under paragraph (a) for an annual teacher evaluation and peer review process. The teacher evaluation process created under this subdivision does not create additional due process rights for probationary teachers under subdivision 2.

(d) Consistent with the measures of teacher effectiveness under this subdivision:

(1) for students in kindergarten through grade 4, a school administrator must not place or approve the placement of a student in the classroom of a teacher who new text beginholds a Tier 1 or Tier 2 license, new text endis in the improvement process referenced in paragraph (b), clause (12), or has not had a summative evaluation if, in the prior year, that student was in the classroom of a teacher who received discipline pursuant to paragraph (b), clause (13), unless no other teacher at the school teaches that grade; and

(2) for students in grades 5 through 12, a school administrator must not place or approve the placement of a student in the classroom of a teacher who new text beginholds a Tier 1 or Tier 2 license, new text endis in the improvement process referenced in paragraph (b), clause (12), or has not had a summative evaluation if, in the prior year, that student was in the classroom of a teacher who new text beginheld a Tier 1 or Tier 2 license, new text endreceived discipline pursuant to paragraph (b), clause (13), unless no other teacher at the school teaches that subject area and grade.

All data created and used under this paragraph retains its classification under chapter 13.

(3) at least two years of teaching experience in a similar content area in any state, as determined by the board;

(4) a passing score on the pedagogy and content exams under section 122A.185; or

(5) completion of a state-approved teacher preparation program.

(b) For purposes of paragraph (a), "upper division" means classes normally taken at the junior or senior level of college which require substantial knowledge and skill in the field. Candidates must identify the upper division credits that fulfill the requirement in paragraph (a), clause (1).